Quality is important to any BI consulting team. Weather your selling a software, app, database, or dashboard, it’s vital that the team coordinating the selection remains unbiased and knowledgable for the best possible outcome and longevity of the project. In our latest whitepaper we review some of our best practices, scenarios, and checkpoints in developing a Request For Proposal (RFP). Here are just a few, for starters, that may save you from chaos in the long run:

1- Give the process enough time – be patient
Depending on the complexity of your organization or the type of technology you are choosing it is vital to understand that the RFP process is time consuming and involves many steps. This time buffer goes double for international companies, like iVEDiX.

If you’re a consultant, it’s likely you’re used to the process, but if you’re just entering the role of RFP Manager, it’s important to be aware of the cultural tone set by being patient though the process.

2- Selecting the appropriate vendors
Portraying business requirements correctly is equal to selecting the right vendors. While this may seem like an easy task, think again. At the end of your RFP, you will have just one vendor remaining. Thus, it’s important to make sure that vendor is truly qualify based on the business’ requirements, rather than personal experiences or opinions within the assessment team.

3- Have a full-proof evaluation method from Day 1Again, just as critical as gathering business requirements or selecting vendors, having an actionable evaluation method is critical to the overall success of your RFP. A good RFP process will have a clear selection process and multiple “checkpoints” to evaluate and filter the vendor list down.

4- Gain buy-in…. from everyoneBefore embarking on an RFP process, make sure that you have buy-in from all stakeholders. The more buy-in that you have, the greater likelihood of success. Widespread buy-in not only gives you credibility as an effective and transparent leader of the RFP process, but also positions your RFP as an organizational initiative, not just another silo’d project.

5- Consider an RFIMost organizations dive directly into an RFP process because time is rarely on their side. In the case of data warehousing and business intelligence, an industry that is rapidly evolving, you should consider conducting a short RFI (Request For Information) as a preamble to your RFP. Basically, this useful, simple step can add big bang for your buck.